What's In Your Account?

WHAT’S IN YOUR ACCOUNT?

2 Kings 5:15-27

All of us have heard of the story of Namaan. He was a Syrian who was the commander of the armies of Benhadad II in the time of Joram, King of Israel. Namaan was afflicted with leprosy.

Leprosy! Just saying the word sent chills down the spine and fear struck the heart every time it was said. It was much like the word Cancer, that we hear all too often in our day. Like a spreading, incurable cancer, Leprosy meant incurable suffering and certain death. Nearly every time it is spoken of in the Word of God, is a type of sin.

Leprosy attacked the body, and in those days, was an incurable disease that slowly ate away the skin, causing parts of the body to die and fall off. Fingers, toes, even entire limbs would have to be removed to preserve life. Eventually leprosy would bring certain death. Until death came to bring the final “relief”, those who had leprosy were forever separated from the rest of society since it was such a contagious disease.

Sin acts the same way in the heart of man. Sin eternally separates us from all that is good and holy. We can no longer have communion with God until that sin is taken away by the power of the Blood of Christ. Sin is a “spiritual cancer, or spiritual leprosy” that has no cure other than through a miracle of grace from God. It isn’t as visible upon the outside as much as leprosy was but it doesn’t take very long when you are around those who are living in sin, until the sin on the inside begins to show on the outside as well.

There was a young Hebrew slave-girl that waited on Namaan’s wife who told her of a prophet in Samaria who could cure her master. Naaman had no other hope so he obtained a letter from Benhadad and went to King Joram. The king of Israel suspected that Namaan was only there as a spy against him, and ripped his clothes as a show of both anger and distrust, then he threw Namaan out of his court.

Elisha the prophet hearing of this, sent for Naaman, and told him to dip in the muddy Jordan River seven times. Namaan wrestled within himself but finally came to the conclusion that there was only ONE WAY to be cured so he was cured of his leprosy by dipping himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of Elisha.

This is a type of our way back to God for there is still only ONE WAY to get rid of sin. We can’t chose how it will happen. We can only choose whether we will allow it to happen. The Word of God tells us that the only way to Heaven is through the Blood of Jesus by accepting his sacrifice upon the cross.

Man is ever searching for a different way. If he could find any other way, that would mean that he didn’t have to obey God’s Word and he wouldn’t have to confess that Jesus is Lord.

Dipping seven times meant that he was to fully and completely follow God’s prescribed way to wash away his sin through a full obedience to God’s plan. That’s what it takes to be saved. It takes a full and complete obedience to God’s Plan of Salvation.

Can you imagine the joy and excitement that Naaman felt when his leprosy was gone? Can you just sense the peace in his heart and the gratitude that he had for all that God had done? Do you think that Naaman was still concerned about the fact that he had been washed in muddy water to get well? I can imagine that he was so glad to be delivered from his sentence of death that he would have drank that water if it had been necessary!

I believe we can know that same joy that Naaman felt. Every time a soul is saved from the pits of hell and the sin is washed away, we sense that same joy and excitement of being delivered. Yes, it is an ugly picture to think of Jesus upon that cross, bleeding and dying for us, and then to think that we must accept his sacrifice, and look upon him, and trust in what he suffered for us before we can be saved. We wish that we could be saved by trusting in something that isn’t so gory as the cross! Why could we not just simply believe on Jesus as the Son of God without him having to go to the cross?

There has to be a sacrifice for sin’s debt to be paid and Jesus’ death on the cross is the only sacrifice that is acceptable to our Sovereign and Holy God. It’s either deliverance through the ugliness and disgust of the cross, or no deliverance at all.